Following the boy—indeed, joining him—Abigail went for her first bike ride today.
We rode along Merri Creek Trail, but didn’t make it to Coburg Lake, stopping instead at the AH Capp Reserve, for Daniel to play and for me to let my heart rate drop. Approximately thirty kilos of extra load is … just another thing that a parent does.
After Penny laboured for 90 minutes, Abigail Rose was home born at 4.08am on Monday 110110: 3.92kg, 53cm, wonderful!
She’s doing well: feeding, sleeping, excreting; successfully keeping the bilirubin low and weight high. She responds positively to Daniel’s voice and touch.
(Expect little in the way of blogging, email, sms, telephone, physical presence, etc, to escape our happy bubble.)
Actually the fruit and floral wedding anniversary or linen wedding anniversary.
Thursday the 3rd of December 2009—four years later—we drove to Darling Gardens, with Daniel (and bump), and exchanged vows and rings in the same spot, again.
Afterwards we all went out for dinner at the Marquis of Lorne.
Penny is pregnant. Baby is due 13 January 2010. Daniel is going to have a sister or brother—we won’t know which until the day; he says it’s a girl.
Here’s a picture of the spark from the ultrasound on Wednesday:
Legs crossed. Thumb-sucking. Heartbeat like a large dog panting.
I say “we’re pregnant” to obvious consternation. Previously Penny was not pregnant, and obviously I was not pregnant. Now Penny is pregnant, and I am not as I was. I may not be pregnant like her, but as her partner I am dramatically transformed.
Penny is morning sick. We are healthy. We are happy.
Wednesday the 3rd of December 2008—three years later—we met at Darling Gardens, and exchanged vows and rings in our spot.
(Dan stayed home with Pen’s parents. He’d had a long day and was in no mood for ceremony.)
Afterwards we went out for dinner and drinks at the Marquis of Lorne.
We went for two family rides on the long weekend. Both times we packed the bikes and trailer up into my small car, while Penny taxied Daniel in hers, so that we could start our ride from somewhere other than home.
On Friday, we drove down to Beacon Cove (i.e. suburb adjacent to Station Pier), then rode our bikes along the waterfront bike path to St Kilda. We stopped and ate a packed lunch at the beach east of the main beach (the beaches either side of the main beach are open to dogs!). Then we chained our bikes, converted Daniel’s trailer into a pram, and walked down Acland Street for some baked cheesecake and window shopping. On the return ride we stopped at South Melbourne’s wonderful fenced beach playground; there, Daniel finally mastered going down the slippery dip by himself.
On Saturday, we drove down to Ivanhoe, then road our bikes from Chelsworth Park along the Main Yarra Trail to Banyule Flats Reserve. The Yarra river (or Birrarung) is Melbourne’s greatest green space asset: it carves out land which cannot be used for residential or industrial purposes; and we’ve made good use of it, with bike paths, walking trails, parks, sporting fields, and golf courses. Riding along it was a big change from the previous day—hard going pulling the trailer on a mostly unsealed path. We ate our packed lunch at the Banyule Flats Reserve playground and let Daniel run free.
On the way back I got into a bit of trouble. The path, sealed at this point, drops precipitously on a spiral to pass under the bridge at Banksia Street. On the way out I had gone up this in first gear, very slowly (it’s not so steep that it required me to dismount to prevent the trailer from pulling my front wheel back off the ground). Going down it, I slowed, but the trailer rode up the spiral’s corner—possibly as gravity pulled on it to cut across my path. The trailer tipped over—a distressing sight for Penny following behind—but its frame protected Daniel’s head, and he was so sleepy at this point that he wasn’t at all concerned. We righted the trailer and Penny straightened the bent aluminium axle. Because of the weight of the trailer, I had to walk my bike while Penny held on to the trailer, to get it down the spiral.
My dear friend, occasional co-worker, and fellow blogger, Andrew Bowie married my sister Katie on Sunday.
Congratulations!
Today we attended Moreland City’s third(?) Cyclovia.
Ciclovia [Spanish = bike path] is a concept from Bogota, Colombia, where someone imagined it over thirty years ago: to shut down a road to cars and such, for the benefit of cyclists and pedestrians.
Moreland City shuts down Sydney Road, from Brunswick Road to Bell Street, a four kilometre stretch, and one of Melbourne’s most congested streets.
Pen and I got on our bikes, with me pulling Daniel in the baby trailer, and did a circuit, starting at Blyth Street. It was strange, quiet, beautiful. No cars, not even parked cars. Like something had happened. I guess something had. We perused the shops and cafes—riding is always the right pace for a distance like that.
There were cyclists: normal bikes, bikes with baby seats, bikes with baby trailers, bikes with trail-a-bikes, kids bikes, recumbents, dual recumbents… There were pedestrians (and their dogs). There were people on rollerblades and scooters. There was one guy on a motorised chair. The tram drivers all looked so happy—they made silly noises; one danced in his seat.
We stopped for a free sausage and vegeburger at a church. I discovered a local comic store. Pen looked at baby clothes. We admired some beautiful old buildings that we had driven past many times.
I hope we’ll see you there next Cyclovia.
Leaving the Bright Brewery (Saturday night, two weeks ago) we looked up and saw something bright in the sky—the International Space Station!
The next day we drove to Gundagai, on our way to Canberra.
Canberra was a surprise, we literally drove into the middle of it. I’m so used to cresting mountains and seeing a city (Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney) laid out in front of me. Canberra’s small and on flat land. We drove down the main road into the literal centre of town, then made our way out to the telecom tower via ANU.
ANU dominated the “centre of town” in a way that reminded me of Berkeley, California. From the observation deck of the telecom tower, I kept looking in the wrong places for things, continually overestimating the distances between them.
We visited the National Museum, National Library, Parliament, National Gallery, High Court, and War Memorial. (South of the river isn’t like Berkeley.) Some highlights:
We visited my cousin, who has been in Japan for eight years, and his wife, and his son (my first cousin, once removed; Daniel’s second cousin).
We did not get to the Wig & Pen brewery pub.
Leaving Canberra we drove—not stopping at Picton—to Sydney, where we stayed three nights with the lovely Richard. He got us to the Lord Nelson brewery pub. He showed us Torchwood—2.1 (starring James Marsters), 2.6 (written by JC Wilsher, starring Martha), 2.7 and 2.8 (surely the first episodes of any show comprehensively respond to Buffy and Angel—and, wow!), and 1.9 (to demonstrate a running theme in the absence of 1.8)—convincing me to give the show another chance. He gave me my first apple of Jonathan Season. He was beautiful with Daniel.
Then it was home again, home again, via Gundagai.
Place names I’ll remember from this drive: Collector, Gunning, Harden. Eldorado. Boho.
It was refreshing.
Yesterday was my birthday! To use a byte, I am 00011111 years old.
If I could have wished for weather, I would have wished for what I got: 37 degrees. We’ve been having a nice and toasty March.
For my birthday I got (to the tune of the Seven Days of Christmas):
Oh, to love, and be loved in return. Apologies to anyone and everyone to whom I am too disorganised to reply!
I got some extra scrummy things to read:
Plus: green Converse hi sneakers!
We couldn’t do what was planned, because of rain, so we went for a lovely drive up to Warrandyte. Then we went to the Catholic wedding of one of Penny’s cousins. Afterwards, the rain cleared for us.
Monday the 3rd of December 2007—two years later—we drove to Darling Gardens, with Daniel, and exchanged vows and rings in the same spot, again.
Then it was home to drop Daniel with my mum for babysitting, and off to the cousin’s reception.
After quite some time, we’ve started riding again. A couple of weeks ago, Pen procured a bike trailer for the boy. This means we don’t need to worry about bike/rider stability, and, if he falls asleep in transit, he can stay that way upon arrival. (Also, it converts into a pusher.)
(It won’t attach to my bike, because of my quick release wheels.)
A couple of weeks ago, we rode from home, along Merri Creek, to Coburg Lake (5ish km). We had a picnic lunch there, amongst the family barbecues and wedding parties.
Today we rode the opposite direction, to Dights Falls (5ish km), with Rob.
(Pen has rode more with Dan, in between.)
I’ve often walked with Dan north along Merri Creek: it’s quite beautiful, a lush behind-the-scenes experience. When we rode further north, I saw carp—such big ones I haven’t seen since Japan.
But south is even more beautiful. There are parks and art installations. Behind Heidelberg Road, behind the Rushall retirement village. Past amazing Victorian houses in Fairfield. The creek pushes downwards, and overgrown cave-like walls rise up, like something from Wilsons Prom. It’s like we’re not in the city, but somewhere far away.
Because we don’t think well enough of the city.
Kangaroos, emus, eagles, foxes, cats, horses, cows, four trailer road trains up to 53.5m long—none could stop our journey. Cane toads I squashed. No wild camels on the road, and no snakes or wombats at all, alas.
Around Australia and back again. Two months and 12,273km in a camper van, plus another 500km in a 4WD. You know, it takes me about two years to do that distance in my Barina; Dad, a rural insurance broker, used to do it every month!
Let me draw you an approximate picture.
North to Bendigo, then Mildura. Across to Tanunda (Barossa Valley). Then to Adelaide. Up to Wilmington, then Wilpena. And down again. Across to Ceduna, and across the Nullarbor (and the longest stretch of straight road in Australia, possibly the world): Mundrabilla Roadhouse, Norseman. Up to Kalgoorlie-Boulder and across to Perth and Fremantle. Down to Yallingup and Margaret River. Down via Cape Leeuwin (where the Indian Ocean meets the Southern Ocean) and across to Pemberton, and Denmark, and Albany. Then back up to Perth and Rottnest Island. North via Pinnacles to Geraldton, and via Kalbarri to Denham (Monkey Mia). Crossing the Tropic of Capricorn to Coral Bay. Inland to Karijini National Park. North to Auski Roadhouse, and via Port Hedland to Sandfire Roadhouse, and to Broome. Then via Derby to Fitzroy Crossing (the Kimberley). And to Kununurra, and via the gateway to Purnululu to Timber Creek, and via Katherine to Darwin. And home by aeroplane.
Such places! Perth, the most remote city on Earth. The west coast, about the same distance from Melbourne as New Zealand is. The Kimberley, as close to Singapore as Victoria.
The landscapes are incredible. Australia must have a thousand different kinds of desert and semi-desert environment, and they are all stunning. Some of them are like other worlds.
I think I’m in love: Western Australia is my new favourite state, and Perth my favourite capital city.
Daniel loved the trip too. At home he easily consumed 110% of our time, but on the road was a different story. He slept when driven and enjoyed being carried on walks down gorges and such. He prefers the outdoors to indoors.
Well, you know, I don’t do travelogue, but I will post somewhat about our trip. To get a better picture, I suggest you check out Penny’s blog: Melbourne to Kalgoorlie (featuring friends and family), Perth to Margaret River and back (with Rob), up the west coast, and across the Kimberley.
What I learned to appreciate was the vast open spaces, empty of people. The distance between towns and the necessary slowness in between. This is a post-Industrial Revolution nation. Without the steam engine and the telegraph and the ability to pump water 563km uphill, what would we be?
I also started to think about mining, and the South Australia Company, and 1967.
I also drank a lot of beer. 
